The Beginning

Back in 2002 I started training for my private pilot's license. It took the better part of a year but I completed my training in 2003, passed my check ride, and obtained my license. I flew several times after that, but then life intervened. For the next fourteen years, I stayed on the ground, unless I was in a plane with a lot of either people that was piloted by someone else. Various events, such as getting married, buying a home, dealing with periods of unemployment, and so on forced me to keep flying on the back burner, so to speak.

During that time, and especially in the last couple of years, I pondered what kind of flying I really wanted to do. I was considering trying a simpler form, such as a powered parachute or an ultralight. Not only would it be less complicated, but it would also be considerably less expensive to own such an aircraft. But time went by and I continued to do nothing.

I had played around with flight simulator software since the early 80s. My first computer that I had when I was a young teen was a Timex-Sinclair 1000. I had a simple flight simulator program for it that was surprisingly well-featured given that it was written in BASIC and ran on a system with only 16K of RAM. When we got our second computer, an Apple IIGS, I upgraded to Flight Simulator from Sublogic. This is the same program that Microsoft licensed for PCs and published as Microsoft Flight Simulator. Once I made the switch to a PC and Microsoft Windows, I continued with their offering. However, I never really got into it in a serious way, treating it more as a game that I messed around with instead of using it as an actual simulator. I also picked up a copy of X-Plane 10, and later X-Plane 11 but, even then, I didn't utilize them in any real way.

Then, in 2019, Microsoft announced a new version of Flight Simulator. This would be the first new version since Flight Simulator X, which was released in 2006, and which gained renewed life when the Steam Edition was released in 2014. In that time, Microsoft had attempted to adapt it to the free-to-play market with the poorly-received and short-lived Microsoft Flight in 2012. This was a return to form, and they promised that it would advance the state of the art in flight simulation far beyond anything else out there. And I think they kept that promise. Because the world is modeled based on real mapping data and imagery from aircraft and satellites, for the first time a virtual pilot could truly fly VFR in a flight simulator. When I fly over my house in X-Plane, I see a mostly bare landscape with a few bushes and simple structures. When I fly over my house in Flight Simulator 2020, I see my house. I even see my car parked in the driveway. It's certainly not a perfect recreation of the real world, but it's far, far better than anything else, and it's improving all the time with updates and patches.

I dove into FS 2020 far more deeply than I had any flight sim before. I already had a HOTAS setup I bought to use with Elite Dangerous, and I had a reasonably powerful computer, and an ultrawide monitor, which made for a high quality and immersive experience. I started flying rather than just playing.

And then, the more I flew using FS 2020, I realized that my interest in flying for real had been rekindled. Hard. And I didn't want to fly powered parachutes or ultralights anymore; I wanted once again to fly the kinds of aircraft that my private pilot certificate and single-engine-land rating enabled me to fly. All I had to do was renew my class 3 medical certificate, and have my bi-annual flight review (14 years late) and I'd be able to fly the way I wanted to once again.

And so I did exactly that. It took a few hours of dual instruction to shake enough of the rust off, but the CFI endorsed my logbook and I was a pilot once again.

Of course, if I wanted to fly, I had to rent an airplane and I was reminded very quickly of the biggest issue with doing that: the plane you want is very often not available when you want it. In order to fly a particular model, the rental agency (In my case, Snohomish Flying Service at Harvey Field) wants you to spend an hour or so with one of their instructors to familiarize yourself with it's characteristics. In my case, I was signed off in the Cessna 172N, of which SFS has two. They also have several 152s, a few 172S models (one with the G1000 glass cockpit) and a few other planes like a 182 and a Beechcraft Duchess.

Shortly after I got my license back in 2003, I got signed off in the 152 so I could rent a plane for less than the 172s. Because of my long hiatus, they didn't have any of that paperwork anymore so I would have to get signed off again. This presents the same problem as it did 17 years ago: I'm not exactly a small guy. A 152 with me, an instructor, and full tanks is over its maximum takeoff weight. To go up with an instructor requires that fuel be removed from the tanks if they're too full. I weight a bit more than I did then - not much, about 10 pounds - but that's still almost two gallons of fuel. In the meantime, I had to deal with the fact that they only had two planes I was authorized to fly, and one of them has been in the shop for an extended renovation. Since getting current, I've been flying exactly once.

There are a few things I could do about this. The first, of course, is to get signed off in the 152 with the associated hassle noted above. Another is to get signed off in the 172S, which would expand the number of airplanes I could rent, though they're more complex and expensive than the 172N.

And finally, there's the dream of every pilot: I could purchase my own airplane. This was something I aspired to, but which I figured would have to wait at least a year or two, if I ever did it at all. My plan was to rent for a while, then see if I was flying often enough to warrant having my own plane.

In the meantime, as one does, I started looking through the various aircraft classifieds websites like Trade-a-Plane and Controller, and doing research on what models would be best for someone in my situation as well as what the costs are. It came down the usual suspects, Cessna 172, Piper Cherokee, and similar. There was one I found that looked kind of interesting but I initially disregarded it, despite the fact that it was located at Harvey Field. It was a 1974 Beechcraft B19 Musketeer Sport. This one, however, was somewhat unique. Shortly after it was purchased by the University of Illinois aviation program, it was sent back to the factory where a couple of upgrade kits were installed. The most important of these was to replace the stock 150hp Lycoming O-320 with a 180hp O-360. With everything that was done, the plane is, in effect, a C23 Sundowner and is operated as such. It just doesn't have the third window on each side.

The more I looked at it, and the more I researched the Musketeer and its variants, the more I realized that this plane might actually be nearly ideal for my needs. It's a plane I could build time in, but also one that has room for me to grow into as a pilot. It's not the fastest but it's fast enough. It's roomier than a 172 or a Cherokee, which is especially good for me. And, to be honest, it's a plane that requires a bit more discipline than a 172 so it will force me to become a better pilot. More and more it was looking like an opportunity I just couldn't pass up, so I contacted the owner.

I've already made this post rather long so I'll spare you the details of the process and just say that I ended up purchasing the plane. I did have a pre-buy inspection done, and there were a few things that were found that were either missed in the last annual or had developed since then. The urgent ones were taken care of by the seller. The others I'll be taking care of and the sale price was reduced accordingly. This is just the reality of used aircraft from the mid-70s.

At the time of writing, I own it, but haven't flown it yet. I have insurance now, but the insurance company requires that I have an hour of dual in it before I fly it as pic, which is something I would do anyway. That is scheduled for this coming Friday, weather permitting. In the meantime, although I've gone through portions of the POH already, I now need to go through it in depth.

And so we come to the purpose of the blog. I intend to use it to chronicle my experience owning this plane, the flights I take in it, the issues I encounter, and the lessons I learn. I don't know how often I'll post, and I don't know if anyone will ever read it, but it will, at the least, serve as a personal journal of sorts. I guess we'll see how it goes.